The World is suffering from a pandemic called Covid-19. As the total cases of infection crosses 3M+ and above 2lakh+ deaths. Almost every country in the world under the lockdown. Still, it is not sure that when it will ends. We can’t lock ourselves for long time, and waiting that when this all will ends.
We are living in 21st Century, where we have invested a huge amount and skillful minds to develop various technologies. Any technology coming has only one purpose to ease the life of people at various extent. We have to develop things with the help of these technologies to reduce the effect of pandemic at 0 level. In this blog, I’ll talk about one such technology named IoT and its application that will help in this pandemic.

Understanding IoT (Internet of Things)

In 1999, Kevin Ashton innovate the term called IoT. According to Wikipedia, "The Internet of Things (IoT) is a system of interrelated computing devices, mechanical and digital machines provided with unique identifiers and the ability to transfer data over a network without requiring human-to-human or human-to-computer interaction" Overall we can called as embedded technology. In 2018, there were 7 billion IoT devices. In 2019, the numbers of active devices raise up to 26.66 billion. And the expert says by 2025, 75 billion IoT devices will be connected to the web. Suppose, by commanding mobile phone or any device via voice, the lights of the room will automatic be on and off. In 20th Century this would be called magic. But with the help of IoT, These things becoming normal. As the IoT eased our life so by various applications in house hold, Health care, Industry and many other sectors.

Applications of IoT in pandemic

How can IoT will help in this Pandemic? Answer is simple, by developing Covid-19 related IoT devices. But it have to cover the various sections of the society who is fighting with the pandemic .Let us discuss the various applications.

Social Distancing is the new keyword that is in trend in this era .After this pandemic will over we have to practice social distancing in normal habits. But it may happen that we’ll forget some time to practice these things i.e., in work pressure or anything and there IoT comes in the game. There should be device which use Human sensors to find out that we are at a minimum distance from other person to practice social distancing. This device will alert us if we are crossing the minimum distance barrier.

Example of one application is for Doctors and Healthcare workers, they have to meet the patient and investigate the symptoms. From this they have also a danger to come into infection. So, there is a robot called “spot” in Boston, US to interview patients suspected of having Covid-19 albeit without severe symptoms. It also eliminates PPE, and it doesn’t need to wear a mask or gown.

There a startup called Soapy Core has developed “smart sink”. These are like kind of water coolers that use IoT sensors to dispense the amount of sanitizers need to wash the hands for some definite seconds. Also the fix the temperature of water that needed to wash the hands properly. It has different settings recommended for senior citizens, home, restaurants etc. We need to have these type of more systems available in the markets and in cheap price so the all sections of people can use it in fight with Covid-19.

Also, many organizations like WHO, and many others need to collaborate with IoT companies to develop a worldwide network of IoT networks to develop a sensor to detect Corona Virus easily and in less time.

Security

Also, lots of people are doing work from home and this culture may be extend to post-corona time. Thus, the increasing number of IoT devices in household can be easily targeted by hackers, so that they can enter up to larger networks whom with these devices connected with. So, we have to be safe from it by creating unique password for every devices and connected through VPNs. Also, the IoT companies need to cover and reduce the security breach so hackers will not affect the people’s life easily.

Conclusion

Covid-19 has given a lot of lessons to us. We have to develop more IoT based devices so that it will help in better way next time. Not only IoT, but also lots of emerging technology like AI, Big Data, Machine learning and other more. These technologies not only ease the lives of people but also helps in the tough times for Humanity.

References:
Wikipedia
Security Today
ARAD Group
National Public Radio
The Hindu

• Ujjwal Kumar